EQ Log Parser: Readme for version 2.0.2b

EQ parser is a program designed to make the administrating of DKP per hour systems easier for EQ guilds. It does everything, you just need to use the command "/log on" in EQ and then use the "/who" command every hour in EQ while raiding. The program will then read your EQ log that EQ creates and pick out the desired logs. It will then check who of your members were there during what hour and then calculate the DKP per hour value. It will then output a series of parsed logs that can then be fed into desired DKP database system.

Table of Contents

Installation

There should have been three files included in the zip file: EQparser.exe, members.txt and readme.txt (this file). Members.txt is a file that contains the names of all your members and is used when parsing the logs (read more about it in section ten (Member management)).

The only thing that you have to do before being able to use the program is to enter the names of your guild members in the members.txt file.

Interface

EQLP Interface

There are three main sections: Log Extractor, Workspace, Save files.

The Logs Extractor section takes care of extracting the logs from the raw log that EQ creates and transferring them into the Workspace section. Read section four for more info.

The Workspace is where everything is done, this is where you have an overview over the logs, calculate the DKP per hour, manipulate logs, save logs and export them. Read sections six, seven, eight and nine for more info.

The Save files section is from where you can view and load the saved files. Read more in section five.

Extracting logs from the log file

Click on the "Locate log button" and locate EQ's log file. The log files are located in the folder where EQ is installed and are named eqlog_[Name]_[#].txt where [Name] is your characters name and [#] is the servers number.

The program will then list all the logs that are contained in the file by displaying the dates during which they were taken (i.e. Aug 20 15:41:18). Select the logs that you are interested in and then press the button labelled "-->". This will move the selected logs to the workspace and place them all within one set named Parse [#] where [#] is a number.

There's also an option to do this automatically, please read section eleven for more info.

Loading saved logs

The program will list all the saved logs in the Save files section upon starting the program. The name of the set and the dates of the contained logs are all displayed in a treeview. All you have to do to load a log is to select the set and then click the button labelled "<--". This will cause the set to be moved (copied) to the workspace.

You can also remove a selected saved set by selecting it and pressing the button labelled "Delete file". Do note that this will permanently delete the saved set.

Saving logs

You can save a set from the workspace by selecting the set and clicking the button labelled "-->". This will cause the file to be saved in the save folder so that you can close the program without losing the set. To learn how to load the set again: read section five.

Manipulating logs

The logs can be manipulated in many ways once in the workspace. You can manipulate different things depending on what you select in the treeview.

If you select a set then you can do the following things:

A list of names will be displayed once selecting a set. This is the names of all characters in all of the logs that are contained in the set. On the left side of the list you will find some info: "Logs" is the number of logs contained in the set. "Length" is the number of names in the combined list. "DKP out" is where you enter how many DKP that went out of the system (i.e. were used to buy items during the raid). The program will automatically calculate the optimal value for "DKP/h" (DKP per hour) when you have entered the "DKP out" field (optimal is defined by me as the value that causes the least inflation/deflation in the system). The "DKP/h" value can be changed if you want by using the arrows on the side of the field. The "DKP in" value is then calculated based on these two values. The last value that is displayed is the "influence" value, it displays the inflation or deflation in percent based on the entered "DKP out" and "DKP/h" values (+ means inflation and - means deflation).

If you select one of the characters in the list (while having a set selected):

You will get info about that characters DKP earnings. The number of logs and hour-logs in which the character is represented is displayed. Also the number of DKP earned by the character in the raid is displayed. In the bottom you will find a button labelled "Dataview", clicking this will show you a summary for all the members and logs showing who were there when.

An "X" represents that the character was there and a "-" means that the character was missing.

You will get the following info if you select a single log instead:

The contents of the log will displayed in the list (the members that were there in the log). To the left of the list you will find the length of the log (how many members that were found in the log). You can also add and remove members from here by entering the name and pressing the corresponding button.

That concludes the ways in which the contends of logs can be manipulated but you can also remove logs by selecting a log or a set and pressing the button labelled "Remove parse". You can also change the name of a set by entering a new name in the "Name" field to the right of the treeview.

Exporting logs

This is very simple, just select the set that you want to export (output as hour-logs) and press the button labelled "Hour-logs". This will output the hour-logs in the "output" folder named for example "Aug_15_20_H1.txt". The first part tells you the month, day and hour when the first log was taken, the second part tells you what number it is, for example H1 means that it is the first hour-log in the series. An additional file will also be created named for example "Aug_15_20_Results.txt", this will contain all the info for the set including the DKP per hour value.

These logs and values can then be entered into your DKP database system.

Error searching

The program includes a function to search for errors within the logs. By errors I mean when people accidentally were LD or something like that during the raid which would cause them not to be included in some logs and thereby lose points. The function searches through the logs and alerts the user about spots where people are missing from logs that are not a result from being late or leaving early.

Some examples ("X" means that the user is here, "-" means that the user is missing):
  • Lokorin: X X X - X X
  • Lokorin: - - X X X X
  • Lokorin: X X X X - -
  • Lokorin: - X X X - -
  • Lokorin: - X - X - -
  • Lokorin: X X - - X X

The ones that the function will see as errors: 1,5,6
The ones that the function will not see as errors: 2,3,4

As you can see it only perceives members missing in the middle of logs where the member is there as errors. It doesn't matter how many logs that the member is missing from, as long as they are surrounded by logs where the member is in.

Use the "Error search" button to start the search. It can be found by selecting a log set and then clicking a member (like when accessing the dataview function).

Once started it will display potential errors to you and ask you to select the action. There are three actions to choose from: "Change", "Ignore" and "Change all". "Change all" will automatically correct all errors.

You can also tell the program to automatically correct all errors in logs, as soon as they are extracted or loaded, in the options menu (read more about it in section twelve (Options)).

Formula explanation (DKP per hour)

The calculation is very simple, the program simply adds the number of people that will receive DKP and takes DKP out/number of people, the DKP per hour value is then rounded to one decimals precision.

Member managment

You can open the members section by clicking on "Members" in the menu.

This section displays the contains of the members.txt file for you to manipulate. The members.txt file is used to sort out your guilds members from other people in the logs and this file has to be correct in order for the logs and values to be correct.

Do remember to click on the "Save" button before closing the section if you have made any changes, if you don't then all the changes will be lost.

Options

This section is accessed through the menu.

This section is accessed through the menu. There's a few of things that you can do from here.

  • You can locate your EQ log file and tell the program to automatically load it on start-up, this will save you some time if you use the same log all the time.
  • You can tell the program to count the first and last log twice. This results in that a larger portion of DKP is awarded to those who turn up in time and to those who stay until the end. You can do this in two ways, either with invisible logs in the background or with the program just recalculating the DKP/h value to fit doubling the DKP for the first and last log. The advantage with invisible logs is that it acts just as if you had done the /who command twice while the second option (no invisible logs) just act as an approximation (generally a good one though).
  • You can tell the program to automatically correct all errors in all sets that you load or extract (read more about error searches in section nine).

Contact info

For more info and the latest version, please visit http://www.Lokorin.com/eqlp/
To contact me (questions, suggestions etc), please use http://www.Lokorin.com/contact.php